‘The Stranger In My Home’ is the latest book by ‘Sunday Times’ besetselling author, Adele Parks

Alison is lucky and she knows it. She has the life she always craved, including a happy home with Jeff and their brilliant, vivacious teenage daughter, Katherine – the absolute centre of Alison’s world. Then a knock at the door ends life as they know it. Fifteen years ago, someone else took Alison’s baby from the hospital. And now Alison is facing the unthinkable. Her daughter belongs to someone else. What would you do if you discovered your beloved child is not yours?

When a copy of ‘The Stranger In My Home’ arrived in my postbox, I literally put everything down and eagerly delved into Adele’s latest book which promised to be a dark and gripping read.

The story is seen solely through the eyes of Alison, a woman who dotes over her 15 year old daughter, Katherine. She gave up her job to commit her life to her daughter and husband. Her career is the upkeep of the house whilst maintaining a perfect family and keeping her daughters life in order, running her to and from her numerous classes. Alison’s life is perfect until one day, a man turns up at the door claiming that Katherine isn’t her daughter and not only that she may also be carrying BRC1 gene. The man known as Tom claims that Katherine and the girl he thought was his daughter Olivia were swapped in the hospital when they were born and both babies were taken to the wrong homes.

Alison and Jeff’s life suddenly falls apart as the world that they created is torn apart beyond their control as Katherine is curious about her new family meanwhile Olivia isn’t interested in getting to know Alison and Jeff.

The characters in this story make for complex and insightful reading. Alison is a strong character, an overprotective mama bear, her only instinct is the welfare of her daughter. She frets and worries over Katherine, this perfect little bundle of joy who has brought so much happiness and purpose to her life, which was once so bleak and miserable. Now she has Katherine, she doesn’t need anyone else in her life, but now there is the potential that Katherine might be taken from her, Alison feels helpless and surprisingly finds herself turning to Tom for support, a charming and charismatic character, they support each other as they tentatively get to know each other much to Jeff’s upset, a person who has always been there in Alison’s hour of need. There is also an inclusion off a smaller sub story about Alison’s life whilst she was growing up and how it shaped her to become the woman she is today.

Like Adele’s previous books, the story is cleverly written in a way that keeps the reader engaged and bursting for more. With every chapter there is a new upheaval in Alison’s life as her perfect world is slipping through her fingers beyond her control. Gripping from the every beginning, Adele explores a parents worst fear, when a child is discovered as not your own, filled with drama, riddled with deceit, ‘The Stranger In My Home’ is another wonderfully tragic and atmospheric story about the complexities of morals and issues and with such an unexpected ending that will leave the reader gasping in shock, this book has been hailed as Adele’s best book to date. I loved it!